The Tenant/Landlord Relationship & Courtship - Essay

I have noticed that courtship and marriage are much like the tenant/landlord relationship, and I learned this from a young woman in my church many years ago. She was quite attractive in that dreamy blonde sort of way, but her temperament was all business.  When she told me about her engagement, she also informed me that she had only agreed to marry “John” if he would promise her that she wouldn’t have to work outside of the home after they were married.  I found this strange for a number of reasons. First of all, I had never heard of a woman making a condition before accepting a marriage proposal before. (I have since found out that this is not so unusual.) Second of all, the young woman’s mother was a very well known and successful business woman. Third, even though many married Christian mothers stay at home, many others enjoy working outside of the home for extra income, because they love their profession, or they just want a break from housecleaning and childcare.

“Mary’s” fiance was a passionate and earnest young man in a successful line of work. He quickly agreed; I suspect he would have agreed to any condition she had requested including jumping over the moon.  Now, many years later, they are still happily married and quite a force in the community.

I do not have much experience in marriage; however, I am an experienced tenant, and her conditions reminded me of what I have learned in the tenant/landlord relationship.  When looking for a home to rent, both the tenant and the landlord do some checking about each other. The landlord checks references and makes sure the potential tenant has adequate resources to pay the rent.  The  renter decides if she would like to live in the property and if the owner takes adequate care of the property.

There is one trick I have learned about landlords. If you, as a tenant, want something fixed on the property- make sure it is done before you sign the lease.  Once the lease is signed, very few landlords, in my experience, are quick to make repairs or changes to the property.  If you want the carpet cleaned or a new carpet, get it done before you sign. If you want new locks installed, a new refrigerator, a better washer and dryer, you need to make sure the landlord agrees to everything before you sign the lease.

This is the time when the tenant possesses the most power. The landlord thinks she will be a good tenant; he’s ready to be getting some rental income.  The tenant must be wise.  So it is with the young woman who is contemplating a marriage proposal. A much more serious and lifelong contract to be sure. Perhaps the young man in question spends much of his weekends watching sports on tv. Now would be the time to get an agreement of how much time he plans to spend on her or on mutual projects during the weekends post marriage.  Perhaps he is a slackard in the going to church department.  I would suggest then maybe she just needs to find another apartment, or er, man.  Women need to value themselves as much as my young friend did.  We are one of the most valuable gifts a man will ever receive in his life: we should make sure he knows how to take care of his gifts.  Just a thought before you sign that lease.

Samson & Failure - Essay

“By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.  And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak,Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight,” (Hebrews 11:31-34).

Samson seems an unlikely hero to be mentioned in Hebrews’ acclaim of the faithful.  Of all the Old Testament prophets, Samson is probably most recognized for his spectacular failures. An angel announced his coming birth to his parents; his awesome strength was clearly a supernatural gift from God, yet at almost every point of the story of his life found in The Book of Judges,  Samson was consistently disobedient.  His infamous weakness for Philistine women proved to be his ultimate downfall.  He also broke his Nazarite vows in numerous other ways besides sleeping with prostitutes and marrying outside the faith. He touched the dead body of a lion he killed, and he consumed wine - both against Nazarite vows.  My bible commentary attributes Samson’s escape of God’s judgement until the end of his life as a testimony to the patience and grace of God.  However, scripture itself tells us the reason for Samson’s continuing failures.

When Samson asked his parents for his first Philistine woman (from Timnah), his parents rightly protested for she was from the “uncircumcised.” The writer of Judges then goes on to say, “His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he [God] was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines,” (Judges 14:4).  After each disobedience or failure on Samson’s part, disaster happens, and Samson has an opportunity to strike down 1000’s of Philistine men. Samson’s last act, after he has been blinded and enslaved, is to topple the Philistines God’s temple and eliminate the ruling Philistine class. Despite his repeated failures, Samson’s life was an amazing success.  The Angel of the Lord (whose name is Wonderful) told Samson’s parents of the soon to be born baby’s mission.  “He [Samson] shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines,” (13:5). If Samson had been an obedient Jewish boy, married the nice Jewish girl, and followed the law all of his life, it seems unlikely that he could have destroyed as many Philistines as he did or have had a more wonderful story to share throughout the generations.

Samson doesn’t seem like the best example of Godliness or faithfulness that the author of Hebrews could have used.  We only hear him communicate with God once in his story, and it is to ask for personal vengeance against the Philistines for poking out his two eyes. An event which happened because of Samson’s blatant disobedience and stupidity.  

Despite his many shortcomings and inability to learn, God honors Samson as a man of faith because  Samson was an instrument in the hands of the Lord. A grievously faulty instrument that the Lord was able to use anyways.  I find it strangely liberating that God’s plans to use my life are not dependent on my perfect obedience (especially since that doesn’t exist!) May all the Lord’s followers have the faith to believe that we are being used by God despite the sins and failures that beset us.

Amen.

Book Review: Amen, Amen: Religion and Southern Self-Taught Artists in The Mullis Collection Organized by Paul Manoguerra

I have to begin this review by saying that I’m a little upset. This collection of outsider art was at the Jundt Art Museum of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington where I live - and I missed it.  The funny thing is, my biggest complaint about this book is that some of the art pictured in the book is just to small to see well and to appreciate.  Obviously if I had gone to the exhibit, I could of studied each piece in leisure and in depth. However, the photos that are large enough to view adequately are a window into that strange world of religious art whose traditions go back millenniums.

Carl Mullis is an avid collector of 20th Century art. He ventured into the folk art field because it is more affordable than art done by better known regionalists, yet Mullis was also drawn by the color, drama, and emotion of these self taught artists.  Many of the works in this book drew a strong emotional response from me.  The childlike simplicity of Hugo Spear’s work, Creation, 1977 has a delightful joyous quality. The animals seem to line up and watch in fascination as a muscular God shows the crying Adam and Eve the way out of Paradise.  Howard Finister’s From Earth to Hell is appropriately scarey. Although the book does not do his painting justice, I discovered that I could go on-line and find much bigger pictures of his work. (Apparently he has a number of paintings of hell - I think his work is brilliant.)  The saddest piece is without doubt Annie Wellborn’s Annies Angles {her spelling}. It shows a young girl in an open coffin with two joyous angels above. It looks like it was painted on wallpaper or wrapping paper of upside down flowers.  Despite the sadness of a young person’s funeral, the painting manages to convey a new possibilities after death.  

Many of the art pieces contain writing and some of the artist/writers are of obviously limited education.  The written word is, however, an essential part the pictures. The Devil’s Vice, also by Finster, is a “sermon in paint.”  The man who is caught in this literal shop tool has his many sins revealed in writing on the vice itself. The popularity of “self taught” artists can be fully appreciated when compared alongside someone like Jean Michel Basquiat whose fame and reputation in the art world only continues to rise. (His paintings regularly sell for over 10 million dollars.) Like these Southern self taught artists, Basquiat’s neo expressionist painting also combine iconographic symbols, words, and images that suggest layers of meaning.  If a Basquiat had been included in this exhibit, it would certainly not have seemed out of place.

In an effort of full disclosure, I too am a self taught artist that paints and does collages of religiously themed art, filled with angels and words. So I feel like I am writing about my compadres here. Mullis attributes the Southern background of these artists as their commonality. I, however, find a different interconnectedness.  When I look at most of these works, I have not only an instantaneous recognition of what they are trying to express, but I also recognize  their slightly screwed mindset.  There's something strange about the worlds these artists are portraying: faces in clouds and eyes on angels’ robes, demon dogs and superhero artists,  crucifixion scenes with polar bears or in cotton fields.  These are bizarre images, and I suspect that it is this lack of normalcy, that makes up quite a bit of their charm.  The world of these artists for me is not about regionalism in the sense of North or South, but more about regions seen with eyes of the flesh or eyes of the spirit.  This is a fun art book, which in itself is a rarity, and makes it worth the purchase.